HONORIUS (Flavius Honorius), Roman Emperor. - Son of Theodosius the Great, born at Constantinople on 9 September 384, died at Ravenna on 15 August 423. In
393, together with his brother Arcadius, he was proclaimed Augustus and associated in the government of the Empire. On the death of his father (395) he held the government of the West under the guidance of Stilicho, whose daughter Maria he married in 398, and on her death her sister Thermantia.
Young, inexperienced and fickle, he was the victim of cunning courtiers. As long as he could avail himself of his father-in-law's work, his government was rather tranquil and secure. In 402, in fact, Stilicho defeated Alaric's barbarians at Pollentia, and the following year at Verona, while in 405 at Florence he was beating Huns, Sarmatians and Goths. But in 408 Stilicho lost the office of magister militum, because he was suspected of wishing to raise his own son Eucherius to the Empire, and he was killed. From then on the Empire was afflicted by the invasions of the barbarians and by the rebellions of usurpers. In 408, in fact, Alaric besieged Rome and withdrew only in exchange for a large payment; peace negotiations were also set in motion, with the intervention of Pope Innocent I as well, but twice the barbarian's demands were rejected. Alaric then returned to besiege Rome, elected an antagonist to H. in the person of Attalus, and in 410 sacked the city.
H. favored Christianity and hastened the end of paganism with a series of laws. As early as March 395 he confirmed all the privileges granted by his predecessors, obliging the authorities to protect the clergy. In the following August he forbade public sacrifices and entry into the temples; in 396 he took away every immunity and privilege from the pagan priests. In 407 he ordered the closing and despoiling of the temples, and in 408 he excluded from the imperial Palace all the enemies of the Catholic religion. In 411 he had the Donatists driven out of Africa, and in 418 the Pelagians.
He also made good laws to revive the economy of Italy, so greatly damaged by the wars, and sought especially to repair the damages suffered by Rome in 410. As early as 403 he had placed the capital of the Western Empire at Ravenna.
Bibliography6 works
Agostino Amore